Yo-Yo Ma Talks John Williams (Interview)

August 21, 2018

“He’s always writing for people. So he writes for Steven Spielberg, who’s coming to him with a story. And when he’s writing for an orchestra, he’s collaborating with the orchestra that he imagines. Right? So he has very specific relations with different orchestras—with the LA Phil, with the Boston Symphony, with the LSO, with the Chicago Symphony. Long-term relationships. So when he writes a piece for either an instrument or a film, he’s writing for specific people. And he’s writing from his knowledge and experience. That’s a tip of the iceberg.”